Foreign Relations of the United States, 1958–1960, Western Europe, Volume VII, Part 2

174. Memorandum of Conversation⁰

US/MC/39

Paris, May 20, 1960, 11:30 a.m.

SUBJECT

• Euratom and Amendment to French Atomic Energy Cooperation Agreement (Meeting of Chiefs of State and Heads of Government—Paris, May, 1960)

PARTICIPANTS

• The Secretary of State¹
• Mr. McCone, AEC
• Mr. Farley, S/AE

Mr. McCone reviewed his conversations with Mr. Couture, Hirsh, deRose and Renou. He said that the Euratom requirements for special nuclear materials, particularly weapons-grade U–235 were such as to make it infeasible to conclude an agreement during this session of Congress.² Hirsh had told him that it would not be possible politically for Euratom to separate out the French requirement for 60% enriched U–235 and give that priority over other projects. The French feel very strongly that the proper course is to conclude a U.S.-French draft amendment to the existing bilateral agreement, not increasing the amount of material but increasing the permissible enrichment. This would then be referred to Euratom under Section 103 of the Euratom Treaty.³ If Euratom approves, the U.S. would then submit the draft agreement to Congress; if they do not, the French would take the case to court since they feel a major constitutional question is involved. The difficulty for us in this procedure is that Euratom is strongly opposed to any amendment of the French bilateral. However, this procedure would give Euratom its opportunity to rule, and would take the United States out of a difficult situation.

Mr. Farley said that he had had similar discussions. He wished to add that the French desire to avoid a situation in which Euratom handled all the foreign relations of the community was shared by the other members of the community and referred to the exchange of notes at the time of the amendments to bilaterals during the previous year.⁴ He personally was inclined toward the course of action recommended by Mr. McCone, possibly after an informal notice from the U.S. to Euratom that we were doing so. He was afraid that, if Euratom kept the French from making an agreement this year, the Euratom position vis-à-vis the member states would be weakened rather than strengthened. However, this matter has been handled between the State Department and AEC in Washington, with Mr. Dillon taking the decision which has set our course heretofore. He recommended that no change be made or any commitment given to the French to receive negotiators for an amendment to the bilateral until after the problem could be reviewed in Washington next week with Mr. Dillon and other interested officers. The matter was left in this way.

0. Source: Department of State, Central Files, 396.1–PA/5–2060. Official Use Only. Drafted by Farley and approved in S on May 26. The meeting was held at the U.S. Embassy Residence. See also Document 175.
1. The Secretary and McCone were in Paris for the Heads of Government Meeting.
2. The Agreement for Cooperation between the United States and the European Atomic Energy Community, which went into effect February 18, 1959, provided for cooperation in a joint nuclear power program. (10 UST 75)
3. The treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) was signed on March 25, 1957. Euratom was officially established on January 1, 1958, after ratification of the treaty by all six member countries.
4. Not further identified.